Karl Axel Härstedt (born February 28, 1987) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. A member of the Swedish track and field team at the

2015 IAAF World Championships The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

and at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, he launched his personal best throw of 66.03 m at a national track and field meet in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

nearly a month before the Games. Härstedt currently trains for Malmö Athletics Club ( sv, Malmö Allmänna Idrottsförening). In 2016 Härstedt won the gold medal in the men's discus throw at the European Throwing Cup held in Arad, Romania. Härstedt competed for Sweden, along with his fellow countryman

Daniel Ståhl Daniel Ståhl (born 27 August 1992) is a Swedish athlete specialising in the discus throw. Ståhl has crowned a fine career winning gold medals both 2019 at the World Championships and 2021 in Tokyo at the Olympic Games. Career He competed at t ...

, in the men's discus throw at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Nearly a month before his maiden Games, he successfully nailed the IAAF Olympic entry standard (65.00) by over a single metre with a personal best of 66.03 at a national track and field meet in

, a vast improvement from his previous mark of 64.72 set in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

one year earlier. Having unexpectedly entered the final round with his only qualifying throw of 63.58, Härstedt unleashed the discus into the field at an initial distance of 54.77, and then extended it powerfully to 62.12 m on the second round. With his next attempt prompting a foul, Härstedt bowed out of the competition in tenth place.

Competition record

References

External links

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SOK Profile
Swedish male discus throwers Living people People from Täby Municipality 1987 births World Athletics Championships athletes for Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden Sportspeople from Stockholm County 21st-century Swedish people {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub